CI/CD Pipeline on AWS | Intermediate Project Guide

Project Overview

Create an automated deployment pipeline that builds, tests, and deploys your application whenever you push code. Essential for modern DevOps practices.

Difficulty:: Intermediate
AWS Services:: CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, ECR
Cost:: ~$5-15/month for light usage

Prerequisites

GitHub or CodeCommit repository with application code
EC2 instances or ECS cluster for deployment
Basic understanding of build processes
Familiarity with YAML configuration

Architecture

💻

GitHub

Source

→

⚙

CodePipeline

Orchestration

→

🔧

CodeBuild

Build & Test

→

🚀

CodeDeploy

Deploy

→

🖥

EC2/ECS

Target

ECR stores container images, S3 stores build artifacts

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prepare Your Repository

Store your code in GitHub or AWS CodeCommit
Create a buildspec.yml file in the root directory
Define build phases: install, pre_build, build, post_build
Specify artifacts to pass to deployment stage

Create CodeBuild Project

Go to CodeBuild and create a new project
Connect to your source repository
Select a managed image (e.g., Amazon Linux 2023, Node.js)
Configure environment variables for sensitive values
Enable build caching to speed up subsequent builds

Create AppSpec File for CodeDeploy

Create appspec.yml in your repository root
Define file mappings (source to destination)
Add lifecycle hooks: BeforeInstall, AfterInstall, ApplicationStart
Create deployment scripts in a scripts/ folder

Set Up CodeDeploy

Install CodeDeploy agent on target EC2 instances
Create a CodeDeploy application
Create a deployment group targeting your instances
Choose deployment type (in-place or blue/green)
Configure rollback settings

Create CodePipeline

Create a new pipeline in CodePipeline
Add Source stage (GitHub or CodeCommit)
Add Build stage (CodeBuild project)
Add Deploy stage (CodeDeploy application)
Optionally add manual approval before production

Test the Pipeline

Push a code change to trigger the pipeline
Monitor each stage in the CodePipeline console
Review build logs in CodeBuild
Verify deployment succeeded on target instances
Test rollback by intentionally failing a deployment

Tips

Use Parameter Store for secrets - Store database passwords, API keys securely and reference in buildspec
Enable build caching - Cache dependencies to significantly speed up builds
Add notifications - Use SNS to get notified on pipeline failures
Use blue/green deployments - Safer deployments with instant rollback capability

Code Examples

CodeBuild buildspec.yml

buildspec.yml YAML

version: 0.2

phases:
  install:
    runtime-versions:
      nodejs: 22
    commands:
      - npm install
  pre_build:
    commands:
      - echo "Running tests..."
      - npm test
  build:
    commands:
      - echo "Building application..."
      - npm run build
  post_build:
    commands:
      - echo "Build completed on $(date)"

artifacts:
  files:
    - '**/*'
  base-directory: dist

cache:
  paths:
    - node_modules/**/*

CodeDeploy appspec.yml

appspec.yml YAML

version: 0.0
os: linux

files:
  - source: /
    destination: /var/www/myapp

permissions:
  - object: /var/www/myapp
    owner: www-data
    group: www-data

hooks:
  BeforeInstall:
    - location: scripts/before_install.sh
      timeout: 300
      runas: root
  AfterInstall:
    - location: scripts/after_install.sh
      timeout: 300
      runas: root
  ApplicationStart:
    - location: scripts/start_server.sh
      timeout: 300
      runas: root
  ValidateService:
    - location: scripts/validate.sh
      timeout: 300

Deployment Scripts

scripts/after_install.sh BASH

#!/bin/bash
set -e

# Navigate to app directory
cd /var/www/myapp

# Install dependencies
npm install --production

# Set correct permissions
chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/myapp

echo "After install completed"

Pipeline Creation (AWS CLI)

Terminal Commands BASH

# Create CodeBuild project
aws codebuild create-project \
    --name my-build-project \
    --source type=GITHUB,location=https://github.com/user/repo \
    --artifacts type=S3,location=my-artifact-bucket \
    --environment type=LINUX_CONTAINER,image=aws/codebuild/amazonlinux-x86_64-standard:5.0,computeType=BUILD_GENERAL1_SMALL \
    --service-role arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/CodeBuildRole

# Create CodeDeploy application
aws deploy create-application \
    --application-name my-app \
    --compute-platform Server

# Create deployment group
aws deploy create-deployment-group \
    --application-name my-app \
    --deployment-group-name production \
    --deployment-config-name CodeDeployDefault.OneAtATime \
    --ec2-tag-filters Key=Environment,Value=Production,Type=KEY_AND_VALUE \
    --service-role-arn arn:aws:iam::123456789:role/CodeDeployRole

What You'll Learn

Source control integration with AWS services
Build automation with CodeBuild and buildspec.yml
Deployment strategies (rolling, blue/green)
Container image management with ECR
Pipeline orchestration and stage management